Quotes About Artistry

'The Dance Scene' is basically the most amazing dance show in the world, and it follows me as a creative director. You see how I maintain that creativity.

I've created, directed and choreographed for Lady Gaga since the beginning, so 'Born This Way ' this was musically such an amazing evolution and such a brilliant record. So when she played it for me, it took me a while to find out the visual interpretation that I could give back to her.

When I began to choreograph and find my way pulling other artists' dreams out and changing music in a visual way, there was still a part of me that had something more to say. There was still a desire to rock a stage and ultimately perform the eight count of my dream, but there was a lot of insecurity there.

People need to understand that the Lauryn Hill they were exposed to in the beginning was all that was allowed in that arena at the time. I had to step away for the sake of the machine. I was being way too compromised. I felt uncomfortable having to smile in someone's face when I really didn't like them or know them well enough to like.

More so than with any other instrument, the violin becomes part of the body. Good musicians are physically dissolved when playing, and for violinists, who cannot see where to place their fingers and have nothing to guide them through touch, music must be more than ever about memory than fingertips and breath; the ventage is deeper, more of the self, closer to singing.

The Rabbis of that era lived in a time when culture, generally, depended on oral performance, something like good jazz artistry today. The great jazz players never play the same thing the same way twice, even though you can recognize the same song every time they play it.

Everyone loathes his own country and countrymen if he is any sort of artist.

Don't bow down to critics who have not themselves written great masterpieces.

As the blind Milton's memory of light The deaf Beethoven's phantasy of tone, Wrought joys for them surpassing all things known In our restricted sphere of sound and sight-- So while the glaring streets of brick and stone Vex with heat, noise, and dust from morn till night, I will give rein to Fancy, taking flight From dismal now and here, and dwell alone, With new-enfranchised senses.

everyone who works on the movies is considered an artist. Everyone works together to tell stories,

I'd love to work with Sufjan Stevens. He so gets it. He's amazing.

played her body like an instrument

That's how Rihanna started," Ian said. "I have a hard time picturing Rihanna singing 'Hava Nagila.

Labels don't mean anything to me. I'm trying to play as passionately as I'm able to. If they want to call that cool, that's fine. Just spell the name right, is the formula.

We're lucky. Most of our men are good story men. In fact, they have to be. A fellow who's a good artist, but isn't good at telling a story in this form ... in continuity form ... can't really work for us.

How do you bring alive the things you perceive?

Whatever I did—whether I was writing or playing—there was blood on the pages, there was blood on the strings, because anything less than that was just bullshit, and a waste of fucking time.

Singing really is acting. In a lot of ways, it's much more personal. I love music, and being able to work on that is amazing.

[I've] learned how to pull the mic away and attack the poetry with my body.

take either forty-eight or eighty-four pages to

But after a little while I got used to the tedium, understanding that these parts of my work were as essential to the arabesques of the final pattern as the rest bars are to a symphony.

I've always considered my work one piece and I consider that my work won't be finished until I am dead and buried and I hope that's a long, long time.

I'm dissatisfied with every record the Beatles ever f***ing made. There ain't one of them I wouldn't remake.

I realized one thing for sure: you can't fuck with your musical DNA without losing something sacred. I was still looking for the sacred. And not even a figure as imposing as Prince could convince me it was there when my heart said it wasn't.